Shelves are used to increase the useable space in a refrigerator or freezer, and are often made of glass or other easily cleanable and/or sanitizable material. To prevent spills (especially liquid spills) from overflowing onto surfaces located below, glass refrigerator shelving may be framed with a raised ridge or lip made of metal or plastic, for example. However, framing glass shelving with metal or plastic ridges may significantly reduce the useable surface area of the shelves and detract from the interior appearance of the refrigerator or freezer.
To improve the aesthetic and storage-efficiency aspects of glass shelving, it may be desirable to form a raised lip around the perimeter of a given glass shelf in a slump-forming process, for example. The slump-forming process typically involves heating glass that is placed over a contoured mold until the glass reaches a temperature at which the glass will bend under the force of gravity over a period of time, but without melting. An operator may adjust the temperature and time according to glass composition, thickness, and mold shape.
However, typical slump-forming methods require a relatively wide region around the perimeter of the shelf to be formed into a lip by the slump-forming process. Because the use of a relatively wide raised lip on a refrigerator shelf may significantly reduce the useable surface area on which articles may be placed, the typical slump-forming process has not been suitable for manufacturing frameless spill-safe shelves for refrigerators and freezers. Therefore, there is a need to provide a space-efficient spill-safe shelf with an aesthetically desirable frameless appearance.